It has just become known that Alexei Navalny has been transferred somewhere from Pre-Trial Detention Center No. 3 in the Vladimir region. Neither his relatives nor his lawyers have been told where he was taken or even exactly when this happened.
At the same time, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe—the highest body supervising the implementation of European Court of Human Rights judgments—demanded Navalny’s immediate release.
In accordance with their international obligations, the Russian authorities must comply with the Council of Europe’s demand and release Alexei. Instead, not only are they refusing to do so—they are secretly removing him from the detention center to an unknown location in order to keep him isolated and completely cut off from the outside world.
Alexei Navalny must be released immediately.
Translation of the Committee of Ministers’ decision:
Decisions.
The Deputies:
noted that in this case the European Court held that the applicants were convicted in 2014 for acts indistinguishable from ordinary commercial activity, on the basis of judicial decisions that were arbitrary, unforeseeable, and manifestly unreasonable, in violation of the principle of *nullum crimen, nulla poena sine lege* (no crime or punishment without law) and the right to a fair trial (violations of Articles 7 and 6 of the Convention);
noted that the just satisfaction awarded by the Court to the applicants has been paid, and that the criminal case at issue was reopened by the Supreme Court, but expressed serious concern that the reopening did not remedy the violations found, so that the applicants continue to suffer the negative consequences of criminal convictions imposed in breach of the Convention;
further expressed profound concern that on 2 February 2021, the Moscow District Court granted the application of Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) to replace Mr. Alexei Navalny’s suspended sentence—imposed as a result of the arbitrary conviction in this case—with a custodial prison sentence;
noted that enforcing a sentence handed down in such a fundamentally flawed proceeding is wholly contrary to the findings and spirit of the Court’s judgment; accordingly, recalling the Committee’s established practice in relation to violations of Article 7 of the Convention, strongly urged the authorities to take all possible measures to quash the convictions against both applicants and eliminate all negative consequences for them, while expecting that Mr. Alexei Navalny will be released without delay;
decided to resume consideration of the individual measures required in this case, as well as in the case of Navalnyy and Ofitserov, at their 1406th meeting (June 2021) (DH), and instructed the Secretariat to prepare a draft interim resolution for consideration at that meeting if the first applicant has not been released by then.